Our Lord God is "the God of all grace." God's comprehensive and infinite grace is characteristic of all the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The Father will be honored forever for His grace, so we read: "to the praise of the glory of His grace." The Son makes that grace available to all who believe, so it is called "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Spirit applies that grace in the hearts of those who follow Jesus Christ, so He is called "the Spirit of grace." Grace is found in God alone. Therefore, one must relate rightly to the God of all grace in order to receive all that He has for us in fulfilling His purposes and glorifying His name.
"The Bible is not God, but it is God's voice, and I do not hear it without awe." —
Charles Spurgeon
"If I might choose my destiny, and if I had even to stop out of heaven for the purpose, it would be heaven to me to be permitted always to be preaching Christ and the glories of his salvation[…]" - Charles Spurgeon
This Christmas season, let’s celebrate that Jesus isn’t in the manger, He’s not on the cross, He’s not in the grave, but He sits enthroned at God’s right hand and will one day return for us.
We must never cease to pray for our children until they cease to breathe. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives. Charles Spurgeon
Do not deceive yourselves; it is not an indifferent thing, whether you will come in unto Christ upon his invitations or not— an item that you may put off from one season unto another: your present refusal of it is as high an act of enmity against God as your nature is capable of.
"If others fail in their duty to us, this does not discharge us from our duty to them, nor take away the obligations we lie under to seek their welfare." -
Matthew Henry.
"God's grace may not make us rich, but it will keep us honest." — Charles Spurgeon
"If the name of Jesus is sweeter than honey to your taste, then be glad. For this is a mark of a child of God that never failed yet, and never will fail while the world stands." -
Charles Spurgeon
"Repent is from a Greek word used to describe a change of mind that results in a change of behavior." -John MacArthur.
What will happen when we meet Jesus?
1. All our sorrow will be dispelled.
2. All our tears will be wiped away.
3. All our thankfulness will be heard.
4. All our worship will be received.
5. All our longings will be fulfilled.
6. All our brokenness will be healed.
He is the bright morning star in the spiritual firmament. He is more excellent than the angels of heaven. He is amongst them for amiable and divine beauty, as the sun is among the stars.
Jonathan Edwards
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But never forget Him as the loving Shepherd who will tend to your wounds and gently carry you.
Give up your old life of sin and take hold of the new life God has planned for you since before the beginning of time. Find joy and delight in doing God’s will. Present yourself before the Lord and make yourself available. Submit to whatever God’s plan is for your life, saying like Mary, “Let it be to me according to your word.” Understand that whatever God has planned for your life is far greater than you could have ever imagined.
In order to save us, Christ had to die for us. And in order to die for us, Christ had to live for us. And in order to live for us, Christ had to be born for us.
Are you anticipating Christmas but with a lump in your throat because of the one person you love who will not be home for Christmas? You’re not alone in sorely missing someone.
In order to live day by day by grace, we must relate rightly to "the God of all grace" (1 Peter 5:10). Essentially, this involves developing a personal relationship with the Lord. "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). A growing relationship with the true and living God produces the relational realities of humility and faith. Thereby, we are able to live by the grace of God: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble…We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand" (1 Peter 5:5 and Romans 5:2).
"The man whom God upholds, the devil cannot throw down." — Charles Spurgeon
Cursed be the man that shall encourage you to come to Christ with hopes of indulgence unto anyone sin whatever.
—John Owen, Works 1:431
"This is an abiding mark of a child of God, that God’s words are sweet to him[…]" -
Charles Spurgeon
What does the incarnation teach us?
1. God is not a distant ruler.
2. God takes the initiative.
3. God has an eternal plan.
4. God reveals Himself in Christ.
5. God provides a way to Himself.
6. God demonstrates His love to us.
7. God loves to rescue sinners.
"Our will is locked & knit faster under the will of the devil than could a hundred thousand chains bind a man unto a post." -William Tyndale.
"As I read each letter in that Book of God, I worship the eternal mind which inspired it." — Charles Spurgeon
"Discernment is God's call to intercession." -Corrie ten Boom.
Here alone — namely in Christ, and participation of Him — is true pleasures to be found and durable riches to be obtained. —John Owen, Works 1:431
"And if you say, “I taste no sweetness in the word of God, or the Christ of God,” may it not be that you are still dead in trespasses and sins? If so, may God quicken you, of his infinite mercy!" - Charles Spurgeon
O soften my hard heart and warm it. - William Wilberforce
The baby born is the Christ crucified.
The baby crying is the Christ who cried, “It is finished.”
The baby sleeping is the Christ who rose from the dead.
The gospel of Christmas is incomplete without the cross and resurrection of Christ.
It is interesting that the son of Elizabeth experienced joy and leaped in his mother’s womb, knowing that he was in the presence of the Lord, even though He was in the womb of Mary. The life of any child begins in the womb; for Christ, His divinity was wrapped in humanity in Mary’s womb.
תגובות